Mattie had taken the day off today and insisted on showing me around Key Ridge. So far, that had entailed eating breakfast at her favorite diner, then she took me over to the small reservoir at the edge of town. The surface of the water was frozen and littered with cars and tents. She’d insisted it was fully solid, but I still couldn’t imagine feeling confident enough in nature to drive a car out to the middle of a lake. We’d walked around the outskirts of the reservoir before heading back to Main Street.

Now she was dragging me into every shop in town for a little retail therapy.

My mood had recovered a bit since arriving in Key Ridge a few days ago. While cheery might be too extreme of a word, I had at least stopped outright sulking. Mostly.

The job pool wasn’t great. So far, I’d only received rejections, but I was holding out hope. My résumé was good—I knew it was. Someone would see that and give me a call. They had to.

“There’s a crystal shop next door.” Mattie looped her arm through mine and led me back outside. She handed me the bag since she was already holding a few in her other hand. Even though this retail therapy was supposed to be for me, Mattie was doing most of the spending. I was financially responsible, and my savings were great. But not dropping money on clothes and random little trinkets was exactly how I’d be able to keep it great, especially when I had no idea when my next paycheck would be coming in.

“Crystals?” I shot her a puzzled look.

“Right. Like energy and manifestation and all that jazz.” She wiggled her fingers.

I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t believe in all that, do you?”

“It’s fun,” Mattie said as we walked outside, lingering in the crisp air for only a second before approaching the shop next door. Inside, the smell of incense overwhelmed all of my senses. The whole place was lined with shelves, crystals of all different sizes and colors scattered everywhere.

“Welcome in.” The owner sat behind the counter. At least I assumed he was the owner. He had long hair and half-moon spectacles pushed down the bridge of his nose. He looked exactly like the type of person who would own a crystal shop in a mountain town.

The crystals were grouped by type, and each section had a piece of paper taped to the shelf, describing what the crystal was and what it was good for.

“This is silly,” I whispered.

“Fun,” Mattie repeated, picking up a purple and green crystal the size of a golf ball and turning it over in her hands. “Besides, if anyone could use some positive energy right now, it’s you.”

“Thanks for that.” I lightly shoved her, but we were both smiling. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d spent a whole day with just my sister. We’d always been close, but living on opposite sides of the country meant significantly less time together.